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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Weekly Challenge #38

Happy Monday everyone!
First of all, as always - a few house keeping items:

If you're NEW here (and there've been a lot of new additions to the party!) I'm working on creating some tutorials to help you out. You can click on the links above or: See "Getting Started" and "Tutorials"

Last week's challenge slideshow is late, my apologies. Oh dearie, I hope to have it up and running soon!!

To see all the past weekly challenges - click the tab above, or follow this link

Please grab the button for the Weekly Challenge (on the right sidebar) to display on your blogs! share the fun!

The limit of submissions to the slideshow is TWO, but please feel free to post as many as you like to your blogs. I will take the first two presented to each challenge.

and i want to say a very extra special big heart felt thank you to everyone who donated funds last week. I continue to be amazed by the generosity of spirit of this wonderful community. HUGS!

Thank everyone for the delay in this week's challenge. It has been yet another exhausting week. We took Artoo in to the Emergency room on Wednesday afternoon because he was having some issues breathing... after a few hours, they sent us home saying if it gets worse, come back... well, at 4 am Thursday morning, it was worse.

We packed up Chewie into the car, B-rad drove Artoo and i to the hospital and dropped us off. We were in Emerg for almost 6 hours, with Artoo on oxygen, until they admitted us and sent us upstairs.

In the end, it was a viral infection - nothing we could do but wait it out and hope that he didn't breathe any mucous or saliva into his lungs which turn into pneumonias. luckily, he didn't. We got the orders to go home on Sunday morning.

oh hospitals.
sigh.

But we're home now. Artoo is still a little bit sniffly and has a bit of a cough, but his breathing is calm and steady and that makes a world of difference.

purple flowers

For our anniversary, b-rad bought me flowers and after we got the kiddos in bed we played a game of scrabble before i burnt out. (I won, but just barely) But, even so, it was a pretty sweet anniversary...so glad we were all together. Seven years... where does the time go?

7 years married to the man of my dreams, not too shabby!

Weekly Challenge #38 "Better than a Pair of Ducks"

So, while i was in the hospital, Maria Thomas emailed me and suggested this week's challenge... which was perfect...she suggested a monotangle* using the tangle Paradox

*monotangle - a Zentangle or ZIA using only one singular tangle for the design;

the tangle may be used in its "pure" form or in tangleations.

Maria says; "Maybe folks would take a stab at doing a whole tile in multi-paradoxical tangleations."

Paradox is one of those tangles that you either love or hate... or fear... but it's definitely a trip once you 'get it'. i, myself, was under the impression that this was one of those tangles that i just wouldn't ever be able to do, cuz i couldn't get it... until i went down to Whitinsville to become a CZT and Rick Roberts demonstrated Paradox for the class... it was like a light bulb went off... of course!!

There's no mistaking, this tangle takes a bit more concentration than your average pattern. it's easy to get lost or forget which direction you're going - but one thing to remember is to always turn your tile. This will help you stay in the right direction, and to keep track of where you are.

And to further help you out, in case you missed it last week - my fellow Saskatonian Margaret Bremner, CZT posted a fabulous tutorial on using Paradox. You can see that here.

My first attempt

my second attempt, much more random

B-rad's contribution! Paradox is one of his favourite tangles... he's a big fan of geometry and math - he'd get along really well with Rick

Oh, and if you're wondering about the title of this challenge?? every time i hear the word Paradox i immediately think of a Pair of ducks. Don't know why. just do. ;)

Have fun!

If you have a blog, add the site-specific URL where your tile is posted to the linkey machine below! Don't forget to link back here so that others can join in the fun! (if you don't know how to find this, you can see my half assed tutorial here)

Also, please feel free to come back often and visit the links of those people on the linkey machine - don't forget to leave a comment or feedback, everyone loves feedback. ;)

If you don't have a blog but still want to participate, you can email your tile to me and i will post it here. (See the contact tab above for my email address)

The deadline for each weekly challenge is Saturday night so that i can round everyone up by Sunday. What this means is that i will stop adding tiles to the slideshow on Sunday. You're still more than welcome to do the challenges and add your name to the linkey machine.

I will be more diligent with the linkey machine - by editing out the ones that don't work, the doubles, the links that lead to nowhere, the links that go just to blog home pages (this is why we need those site specific urls), and the spam. And there is some spam. :(

Hi Laura!I am so glad everything worked out with your little one and the hospital. How scary! Made me get goose bumps.Now, as this will be my first tile for your group I am wondering if it was a mistake for me to think I could join!!! This looks even harder than usual! I will have to check out some other paradox tangles and see if I can do it!! I will do it, I just don't know how well, or if it will even be deleted!! LOL!!Be well, you and your little one.xxDaniella

Everyone, remember that this challenge is a place of non-judgement!! It's a chance to try things you've never tried before, to share your work to inspire and be inspired by others!! So, Judi - don't be nervous! it's a fun tangle, tricky, but worth trying! and Daniella - it's not a mistake!! there's no judging, no having to be 'good enough' to be in the challenge...

This challenge gets all kinds of submissions, my youngest contributor was 6, my oldest in her 70s! There are people who make their living as "Artists" and those who have never sold a piece in their lives but are artists on the inside.

from Certified Zentangle Teachers to people who have just always wanted to try something new.

So glad that Artoo is better! It's so hard when a little one is sick and can't express themselves. And happy news for your loving and happy anniversary! Hooray! For Paradox, I just think -- point, wide, point, wide, as I go around -- it's so fun to see it unfold, especially as you do them next to each other. Daniella -- I have literally been laughing when I have entered some week's challenges, knowing that I just didn't get into the groove that week. But that's what's so great here -- it's a community and not a competition. I figure that week mine was so hilarious that it served a purpose of making other people feel great. It's the fun of playing around during the week -- even the thinking about it in my mind that is so wonderful. Jump on in, and join the fun. No deletions here!

Love your post. Maybe I'll get to do this week's, as last week whizzed by and I missed the challenge altogether. Congrats on your anniversary...you are a lucky girl, and we are lucky to have this little (and growing!) community to play with each week. Thanks for all you do in the midst of all that is going on. We appreciate you tons!...carole

I tried it and I love it!!! Thanks for the "push" to have to dig in and try Paradox, Laura. That's what I love most about your weekly challenge--the way you come up with things I'd never think of on my own, how that gives me the push to try it, and then the feeling of...."Wow! I did it!" :-) Thank you!

Poor 'Lil Artoo! I'm glad he didn't have to spend the entire weekend in the Hospital.

I uploaded 6 Paradox you need to make a choice of, Linda. I used some quilting patterns for strings and did the Paradox tangle pattern inside each segments and you get different designs effect depending where you start inside the strings.

I love paradox... I've been drawing that one since before it had a name! I can't wait for this week's challenge (and I just got a new pack of tiles - thanks, Maggie!) so I'm ready to go... Glad you're home and happy anniversary!

Happy Anniversary and so glad you all are home from the hospital. I hope Artoo keeps on getting stronger and healthier. This challenge was a great idea-- thanks Maria!-- and Margaret's tutorial is absolutely fantastic. I agree with you Laura about the love, hate and fear with Paradox, which is why this is a great challenge and good practice.

I overcame my feelings of intimidation about this tangle a few months ago, when I did it over, and over, and over again. Now it flows for me. I keep repeating to myself "skinny to wide" as I draw the lines (similar to Carol's comment above). Thanks for the challenge and Happy Anniversary!Cari

I love this tangle! I love the complexity of the finished design but also the concentration required for me to do a good job. Now I need to work on how to successfully incorporate it with other patterns. Thanks for continuing to offer challenges to keep us tangling through the year!

My husband and I enjoyed using the paradox tangle. Mathematically this is called the "Curve of Pursuit" and I have used this pattern in the past when teaching college students to decorate the polyhedron ( geometric 3D models). You can see a picture of this in my blog.

You can also see examples of Islamic geometric patterns in my blog and how to draw them using regular tessalations as the base.

I am from India and we folks have been doing zentangle type of “auspicious repetitive patterns” as part of our religious ceremony and we call them rangavalli ,meaning “Coloured creepers”. These are symbolic representation of flowers , leaves, birds and animals in graphic form and are drawn on walls of the house , on animals like cows and elephants and on the floor in front of the house ( mostly by women!) to welcome Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.You can see a 5′ X 6′ rangavalli drawn on the wall behind a potted tulsi ( holy basil) plant at my bloglink:http://xploreandxpress.blogspot.com/2010/12/painted-prayers-ive-always-been.html

Mandala ( geometric circular patterns) what you see as “Zendalas” on the internet… are also part of the Buddhist culture which originated in India.

Zentangles have re-discovered the meditative part of repetitive patterns (as sounds in chanting or tribal drumming , or as visuals eg. celtic knots,Rangavalli , mandalas …etc.) prevalent in all cultures and civilization of the world and have popularized it so that common people can create beautiful patterns and enjoy the benefits of reducing their stress creatively.

Thanks for such a fun Challenge, Laura! This is the first time I've tried linking to my brand new blog - hope it works ok! Now I have to go back and read your tutorial and figure out how to put the Diva Challenge button on my blog. Yes, I'm one of those people that they write the "...for Dummies" books for!

HOUSE CLEANING!

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